This invention relates to interferometry, and more particularly to phase-shifting interferometry and generating lateral metrology images from phase-shifted interferometry images.
Interferometric optical techniques are widely used to measure optical thickness, flatness, and other geometric and refractive index properties of precision optical and mechanical components.
For example, to measure the surface profile of an object surface, one can use an interferometer to combine an object wavefront reflected from the object surface with a reference wavefront reflected from a reference surface to form an optical interference pattern. Spatial variations in the intensity profile of the optical interference pattern correspond to phase differences between the combined object and reference wavefronts caused by variations in the profile of the object surface relative to the reference surface. Phase-shifting interferometry (PSI) can be used to accurately determine the phase differences and the corresponding profile of the measurement surface.
With PSI, the optical interference pattern is recorded for each of multiple phase-shifts between the reference and measurement wavefronts to produce a series of optical interference patterns, which typically span at least a full cycle of optical interference (e.g., from constructive, to destructive, and back to constructive interference). The optical interference patterns define a series of intensity values for each spatial location of the pattern, wherein each series of intensity values has a sinusoidal dependence on the phase-shifts with a phase-offset equal to the phase difference between the combined measurement and reference wavefronts for that spatial location. Using numerical techniques known in the art, the phase-offset for each spatial location is extracted from the sinusoidal dependence of the intensity values to provide a profile of the measurement surface relative the reference surface. Such numerical techniques are generally referred to as phase-shifting algorithms.
The phase-shifts in PSI may be produced by changing the optical path length from the object surface to the interferometer relative to the optical path length from the reference surface to the interferometer (i.e., the “optical path length difference” between the object and reference wavefronts is varied). For example, the reference surface may be moved relative to the measurement surface. The light source may be either narrow-band source or a broadband source. In the latter case, the optical path length difference may be varied over a range larger than the coherence length of the source to localize interferometric fringes and obviate the 2π phase ambiguity otherwise present in narrow-band PSI. Such interferometry methods are referred to as “Scanning White-Light Interferometry” or “Scanning Broadband Interferometry,” see, e.g., N. Balasubramanian in U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,306 and Colonna de Lega et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,168, respectively. In additional interferometry systems, the phase-shifts may be introduced for a constant, non-zero optical path difference by changing the wavelength of the measurement and reference wavefronts. The latter application is known as wavelength tuning PSI and is described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,003 to G. E. Sommargren.
While PSI can extract surface height information from interferometric fringes in the phase-shifted optical interference patterns or images, those same interference fringes can obscure lateral metrology features in the images, such as linewidths or x,y feature positions. To obtain such lateral metrology images, state-of-the-art lateral metrology generally relies on intensity patterns generated by conventional non-interferometric imaging systems.